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Presidency report - Managing migration flows State of play - Implementing solutions and remaining gaps

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In order to tackle the unprecedented flows of refugees in 2015, the EU has set out a comprehensive strategy and is fully engaged in solving the most pressing issues. On the basis of the strategic orientations set out by the European Council and by the Council, the Presidency has assigned itself four priorities:

(a) Providing assistance to those in need: humanitarian situation, civil protection, etc.

(b) Stemming the migration flows: cooperating with third countries, prevent/deter, actions against smugglers, targeted communication, etc.

(c) Strengthening the capacity at entry: hotspots, entry points, registration, security, border cooperation, etc.

(d) Managing the flows within internal borders: processing including screening, security checks, reception, asylum, relocation, return, etc.

The Presidency has held numerous meetings and consultations, conducted field visits and activated the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) for the first time ever (cf. annex). Member States, the Commission, the EEAS and relevant EU agencies have been fully mobilised to support the Council in taking decisions on actions to meet the needs of arriving refugees and migrants, including the 1.2 million asylum seekers that have arrived since January 2015 (+ 90% than in 2014) in the EU. Implementation has been advancing rapidly in some areas, but significant gaps still remain.

Achievements and shortcomings

In the area of legal migration, the Council confirmed on 4 December 2015 the agreement reached with the European Parliament on a proposal for a directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au pairing.

Resettlement of more than 22 000 persons in clear need of international protection, agreed in July 2015, is slowly progressing. Around 600 refugees have been resettled to Member States so far.

The implementation of the decisions on relocation remains unsatisfactory, with only 184 persons (as of 16 December 2015) relocated out of a total of 160 000. Problems remain at both Member States of relocation, as well as at frontline Member States levels. Additionally, applicants identified for relocation appear reluctant to be relocated to most Member States. To help identifying bottlenecks and agree on common solutions, the Commission organised on 16 December 2015 an informal Forum on relocation and resettlement attended by all Member States, which could lead to a strengthening of the process. In addition, by deploying National Liaison Officers at hotspots, both the interests of the Member States interviewing applicants and of the applicants receiving directly information on the Member State of relocation may be met. Reception capacity, for those who wish to be relocated, would need to be increased.

Of major importance in this context is the functioning of the hotspots. Two of the planned 11 hotspots are currently operational in frontline Member States. It is crucial that efforts continue to set up and operationalize the remaining hotspots in order to ensure a consistent management of the migration flows.

Achieving this would enable a channelling of refugees towards the relocation process and ensure the return of those who are not in need of international protection. The model of flexible national systems for reception centers assuring that migrants do not leave when they are being processed, should be favoured.

Some progress has been made on the proposals presented by the Commission on a common EU list of safe countries of origin and on a Crisis relocation mechanism, which are being examined at working party level.

It is fair to say however that parts of the proposals are still opposed by some Member States, for different reasons.

A series of initiatives have been identified to stem the flows of migrants, both to redress the situation in the refugee camps in neighbouring countries and to support the protection of refugees living outside the camps in Turkey, thereby decreasing the push factor.

An important element is the EU-Turkey Statement of 29 November and the Joint Action Plan setting out numerous actions to address the crisis. In December, the number of registered arrivals by sea from Turkey to Greece remains at an average level of approximately 4.000 persons per day. This is a slight reduction if compared to the high numbers of November (5 000-6 000 per day). This decrease may, however, also be attributed to other factors.

Strengthening identification, registration and fingerprinting of all third country nationals entering the Schengen area irregularly, are crucial preconditions for efficient border control and security checks. This remains an issue, both in terms of human and technical resources. However, progress has been noted in relation to the situation in Greece with the additional provision of Eurodac devices and the deployment of national personnel to work in teams with guest officers provided by Member States to Frontex.

Furthermore, Greece has activated the Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The deployment of Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs) to reinforce border controls in the Aegean Islands has been activated on 12 December 2015. At the northern border, Frontex is deploying guest officers to support border management procedures, thereby alleviating the tensions. At the Turkish-Bulgarian border, Frontex is also stepping up its presence. It is crucial that all Member States ensure systematic security checks at external borders with relevant existing databases, at least the Schengen Information System (SIS II), Europol Information System (EIS), national police systems, Visa Information System (VIS), Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) and other complementary instruments such as PRÜM and FADO as necessary. To facilitate this, a one-stop shop unifying access to the various databases should be envisaged for the purposes of border controls and security checks. The use of the SIS system should be reinforced towards a coherent application of different kinds of alerts in relation to security. To further enhance security aspects, Member States should deploy National Liaison Officers, working alongside national authorities, Frontex and Europol, at hotspot locations.

Along the Western Balkans route, several states have introduced filters, halting on the basis of nationality those likely to be economic migrants. Clarity is needed on the nationalities excluded and the legality of the actions taken, which should be in line with the European acquis. With regard to the reception capacity, the commitment to increase capacity to provide shelter for more than 24 hours in the countries along the route is not yet met.

The calls for experts by Frontex and EASO are still under-pledged. Member States, in particular those which are under less migratory pressure, are encouraged to increase contributions in order to strengthen the operations at the Union's external borders.

Work on the targeted common information strategy conducted by the Commission, as per 9 November JHA Council conclusions, has now started. A Task Force has been established and some projects are foreseen to start in January. Although often neglected, this area of activity is of crucial and should receive regular attention at Ministerial level.

Concerning the pledges to WFP, UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies made in response to the agreement reached at the dinner of Heads of State or Government of 23 September, Member States have further upped their contributions so that the pledges made since that date are now in excess of the target figure of €500 million (totalling more than €520 million as of today).